This is a very strict diet regimen promoted by Elaine G. as being beneficial for people suffering from any one of a host of gastrointestinal conditions (e.g. celiac, Crohn’s Disease, ulcerative colitis et al). I looked through her book a bit and am somewhat skeptical, and I wonder if anyone is familiar with conventional medical/scientific wisdom about this diet. Is it accepted (if not promoted by medical doctors, who focus on medicine)? Or is it regarded as being some quack nostrum?
Wish I had the links ( I usually link, but working off diff PC), but this is a summary of what I found:
First, you find testimonials, which are mostly anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal evidence feeds the quackery machine wherever you go, bu that doesn’t mean it’s quack science.
Either she or a key supporter lost their medical license after pushing this diet. I noticed that.
Doesn’t appear on some popular sites that get into debunking or finger pointing at that quacks - but If I had to wager, she just didn’t show up on their radar screens yet.
Didn’t notice any science behind it yet, such as long term studies, control groups, double blind experiments, etc.
These doctors you speak of, the ones who focus on medicine, do you happen to know how they feel about the members of the AMA who devote their time, energy, and research dollars to proving the benefits of lifestyle changes?
Frankly, I’m not taking medical advice from a woman who won’t give me her last name. That’s just a little rule I follow.
Exactly. The thing is that in the particular case of gastrointestinal illnesses, testimonials are worth even less than in other areas. This is because it is the nature of some or most of these illnesses to have periods of active disease followed by periods of remission. And the Gotschall diet does not claim to work immediately - it can take up to two years. This is a situation tailor made for testimonials. If enough people go on this diet for an extended period of time, there is no doubt that a large number of them will go into remission at some point during the diet. Lo and behold, the diet works.
It certainly wasn’t her - I am pretty sure she never held a medical license.
The diet was actually invented in the 50s by a doctor named Haas. Gotschall got into it by being the mother of a patient who was cured. After that point she seems to have devoted herself to researching and promoting the diet. Along the way, she got a Masters degree in some related field (possibly “cell biology”) but I am pretty sure she was never a doctor.
I am very interested in your allegation. If you could provide some more specifics I would appreciate it.
Here in the NY area, the diet is backed by a (nutrition-oriented) doctor named Ronald Hoffman, who has a radio show on one of the major AM stations. He wrote an intro to her book. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t lost his license.